The door opened and Ensign Cragg made his appearance. "May it please Your Grace," he announced, "Mr. Battiscomb has just arrived, and asks will Your Grace receive him to-night?"
"Battiscomb!" cried the Duke. Again his cheek flushed and his eye sparkled. "Aye, in Heaven's name, show him up."
"And may the Lord refresh us with good tidings!" prayed Ferguson devoutly.
Monmouth turned to Wilding. "It is the agent I sent ahead of me from Holland to stir up the gentry from here to the Mersey."
"I know," said Wilding; "we conferred together some weeks since."
"Now you shall see how idle are your fears," the Duke promised him.
And Wilding, who was better informed on that score, kept silence.